What’s the difference between a political scandal involving a Republican and one involving a Democrat? When it comes to news coverage, reporters almost always identify the political party of a Republican caught in a scandal, but when the culprit is a Democrat, the party label is usually left out of the story.
There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but not many. To prove the point, here’s how ABC, CBS and NBC have identified (or failed to identify) the figures in 16 political scandals — 8 Democrats, 8 Republicans — as documented by NewsBusters during the past few years:
Even though the congressman had already resigned, the broadcast networks pumped out 152 stories on the Foley scandal over the next 12 days, and painted it as an election-year crisis for the entire Republican Party. “This is more than just one man’s downfall,” co-host Matt Lauer declared on NBC’s Today on October 2, the Monday after the Foley story broke. “It could be a major blow to the Republican Party....”
ABC’s Jake Tapper, for example, began his July 10, 2007 story: “Republican Senator David Vitter is a self-proclaimed defender of family values....” When the NBC Nightly News arrived on the story on July 16, 2007, anchor Brian Williams also stressed Vitter’s conservative credentials: “Republican Senator David Vitter made his first public appearance tonight in a week....Vitter is one of the Senate’s most conservative members.”
On the August 28, 2007 Good Morning America, ABC’s Claire Shipman called it “the latest scandal to rock the Republican Party.” Over on NBC that same morning, Today co-host Matt Lauer linked Craig to all conservatives: “Can the right wing withstand yet another scandal involving one of its own?...On Monday, word leaked out that the conservative Republican was arrested and pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge....”
It took two days until a reporter on ABC’s World News mentioned that Spitzer was a Democrat, while the NBC Nightly News waited until the fourth night to acknowledge Spitzer’s party affiliation. As for Today, the NBC morning news show ran 18 segments on Spitzer’s scandal on March 11 and 12, and never once identified his political affiliation.
Then, after days spent insulating the Democratic Party from this scandal, co-host Meredith Vieira asked NBC’s Tim Russert on March 13 if he saw any “fallout for the Democrats” from the scandal. “Probably not,” Russert replied.
That year, Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice, serving three months in prison. But the case wasn’t over — fast forward to March 11, 2013, when Kilpatrick (now a former mayor) was convicted on 24 counts of corruption. That night, none of the broadcast networks mentioned the conviction on their evening newscasts.
In October, however, when Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in prison, NBC offered brief coverage on their morning and evening newscasts, but did not tell viewers he was a Democrat.
On the October 10, 2013 Nightly News, anchor Brian William explained: “Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in prison for widespread corruption that prosecutors actually contend worsened that city’s financial crisis. He was convicted of two dozen counts back in March. Eighteen other officials from his tenure as mayor have been convicted as well. And the city, of course, is now in bankruptcy.”
The guilty verdict proved fatal to Stevens’s political career; he lost his bid for re-election just eight days after it was rendered. Less than six months later, however, that conviction was overturned as evidence surfaced of prosecutorial misconduct. As ABC’s Pierre Thomas explained on the April 7, 2009 World News: “An outraged federal judge just thrown out the guilty verdict against Stevens and accused government prosecutors of violating his rights. ‘In nearly 25 years on the bench,’ Judge Emmet Sullivan said, ‘I’ve never seen anything approaching the misconduct in this case.’”
The same thing happened in June 2011 when Blagojevich was convicted of 17 counts of corruption — ABC, NBC and the CBS Evening News utterly failed to label him as a Democrat, while CBS’s Early Show only noted his party with a “D” on-screen. In December of that year, all three networks aired stories about Blagojevich receiving a 14-year prison sentence, but again only CBS’s Early Show acknowledged his party affiliation.
On ABC’s Good Morning America, news anchor Chris Cuomo and correspondent Jonathan Karl noted Ensign’s Republican affiliation three times: “A rising star in the Republican Party is coming forward....” “John Ensign is a member of the Republican leadership....” and “The Republican from Nevada admits cheating on his wife...”
Over on CBS that same night, anchor Katie Couric called Sanford “a rising Republican star caught up in scandal.” The next morning on Good Morning America, longtime ABC newsman Sam Donaldson pontificated: “The problem Republicans have, so many of them are sanctimonious. They thump the Bible. They condemn everyone else and then when they are human, they don’t have much credit in the bank for forgiveness.”
Then on November 13, 2009, when Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years in prison — the longest ever for a member of Congress — the CBS Evening News skipped the news, while ABC’s World News omitted Jefferson’s party affiliation in a brief report read by then-anchor Charles Gibson: “Former Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for his conviction on federal bribery charges. Authorities found $90,000 wrapped in foil in Jefferson’s freezer, part of the half million dollars prosecutors say he received for using his influence to broker business deals in Africa.”
A month late, on December 8, 2011, all three network evening newscasts covered Corzine’s testimony before Congress on the failure of his firm. This time, while all three networks talked about Corzine’s political past, only the NBC Nightly News mentioned that he’d served as a Democrat. Anchoring World News, ABC’s David Muir merely described Corzine as “a former political heavyweight under fire, Jon Corzine, once a U.S. Senator and governor of New Jersey, forced to explain himself to small everyday investors...”
When Nagin was convicted on February 13, 2014, the same three newscasts repeated the pattern: They covered the story, but did not note Nagin’s party ID. NBC’s Brian Williams merely described him as “the controversial former mayor of New Orleans who rose to public attention during Hurricane Katrina.”
Then on July 9, 2014, when a judge sentenced Nagin to ten years in prison for his crimes, ABC and CBS continued to censor Nagin’s affiliation, but NBC’s Williams finally disclosed Nagin’s political ID: “Former Democratic mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin...”
The next morning, all three networks mentioned the charges against Jackson on their Saturday morning shows, but none saw fit to tell viewers he was a Democrat. The same pattern showed up six months later (August 15, 2013), when Jackson was sentenced to 30 months in prison. In their evening and morning coverage of the ex-Congressman’s prison sentence, none of the networks thought it relevant to mention his party affiliation.
Less than a month later (August 22, 2013), news spread that Filner had agreed to resign his position as part of a deal with the city council. All three of the broadcast networks covered that news on their evening and morning newscasts, but again only CBS bothered to mention that Filner was a Democrat. Covering the story for ABC’s World News, correspondent Ryan Owens noted that “some voters want him recalled before he can quit — they say resignation is just too easy for a man who has embarrassed America’s eighth largest city.” But neither ABC nor NBC would let that embarrassment attach itself to the Democratic Party.
On Good Morning America the next day, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos pointed out Radel’s party ID and twice linked him to the Tea Party: “Breaking new details on the Republican Congressman caught buying cocaine in a federal sting...The Tea Party talk radio host now facing prison time in his own real life drama....He’s a Tea Party favorite from Florida.”
Over on CBS This Morning, correspondent Nancy Cordes also tied Radel to his party: “For Republicans Trey Radel was a fresh young face, a 37-year-old former news anchor and new father who dubbed himself a ‘hip hop conservative.’”
The next morning, all three networks reiterated Christie’s Republican identity. “He’s gotten a lot of benefit by being sort of this Republican rising star in the New York City media markets,” NBC’s Chuck Todd insisted on Today, rationalizing the massive national news interest in the story: “This is what happens when the bright lights start burning.”
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There are exceptions to this trend. On December 2, 2010, after New York Congressman Charlie Rangel was censured by the House for corruption, all three evening newscasts told viewers he was a Democrat. When then-Representative Anthony Weiner admitted on June 6, 2011 that he’d been lying about sexually explicit pictures of himself that had been posted to Twitter, all three evening newscasts that night told viewers he was a Democrat, too.
But the trend is clear: Most of the time, the media frame their coverage to help insulate the Democrat Party from the antics of their more scandalous politicians, while Republicans caught up in similar scandals are usually identified by their party affiliation.
It’s absolutely proper for journalists to list the party ID of politicians caught up in scandal, especially when those scandals are worthy of national broadcast network news coverage. That means identifying Democrats as well as Republicans — assuming, of course, that the networks are interested in even-handed coverage of politics.
